The Wasteland Exhibit Shows How Architects Can Tap Into Waste

The Wasteland exhibit on display at the Danish Architecture Center in Copenhagen encourages visitors to consider one of the vastest untapped resources currently available to the construction industry. Worldwide, 127 million tons of this resource languish every year, leading to losses of upwards of 14 trillion USD. The resource in question? Waste.

Though waste is by definition the discards that are unusable after a given process has taken place, the Wasteland exhibit encourages people to reconsider that denotation. With such immense value, Wasteland focuses on finding ways to upcycle this waste material, since upcycling not only helps reduce the material waste itself but also offers a cheap alternative to traditional production methods.

The exhibition is divided into six material categories: cement, plastic, metal, glass, wood, and brick. It is designed to give people a tactile experience, letting them feel the various waste materials displayed throughout.